AS THE HEADLINER with President Clinton at a recent economic summit in Washington, Governor Christie could have used the national stage to show his grasp of the fix New Jersey is in. But he didn’t.

Instead, Christie stood by his previous assertion, somewhat skeptically quoted by moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News, that "the recovery we’ve made [in New Jersey] is truly exceptional. Not complete, but exceptional."

This would come as a surprise to the state’s 8.9 million residents. New Jersey’s economy is failing. And the governor is failing New Jersey with his false diagnosis and even worse cures.

Here’s the real record:

* Since the end of the Great Recession, New Jersey’s job creation and unemployment rates have been worse than those for the nation and our neighboring states.

* New Jersey leads the nation in the share of workers who have been jobless for more than six months.

* In the past year, only 4,700 jobs have been added to the state’s 4.5 million-person labor force. Over the same time, more than 78,000 New Jerseyans have quit the labor force entirely — hence, the recent decline in the unemployment rate.

* New Jersey leads the nation in the percentage of homeowners — one in 12 — who are in foreclosure, increasing the financial stress on middle-income families and reducing property values.

* The credit rating agencies have dropped New Jersey’s status to the lowest in the nation, joining Illinois and California. This further hampers the state’s ability to invest in the assets that give it a competitive advantage, such as transportation, public colleges and universities, high-quality preschool and public-private research.

This list could go on, but you get the picture: New Jersey is not in the midst of an "exceptional recovery." It faces a financial and economic emergency. But the governor chooses to divert the spotlight to a tale of growth that simply isn’t true.

Moreover, the governor and his treasurer insist things would be even better if lawmakers would only cut New Jersey’s tax rates and its public services. But we’ve been down that road for the past few years, and it’s a dead end.

First, businesses have benefited from $1 billion in business tax cuts, with more to come. Second, millionaires have benefited from the governor’s two vetoes of a continued tax surcharge on them, giving those folks about $2.4 billion in added income over four years. Finally, 252 businesses have benefited from the more than $4 billion in tax credits and subsidies that have been awarded so far this decade.

None of that has helped New Jersey’s economy. Yet, the administration assures us it has, and that our recovery would be even more "exceptional," if only we’d double down by cutting taxes even more.

Recently, the governor has put the spotlight on protecting the 50 richest households in New Jersey from any potential tax increase. Those are the very people who long ago recovered from the Great Recession – and then some. Their average income is $128 million a year. The straggler in the 50th spot takes home $47 million annually – or about $4 million a month.

The governor’s justification for protecting those households is that otherwise they might move to another state with lower taxes. But it’s a scare tactic, pure and simple. The few Americans who actually relocate from state to state — about 2 percent of all residents in any given year — do so for jobs, family and weather, not taxes. In fact, New Jersey almost doubled the number of households with incomes over $500,000 between 2002 and 2011 – a period in which taxes on these households were permanently raised once, in 2004, and a one-year tax surcharge was added, in 2009.

The constant focus on tax cuts deflects attention from what would really rebuild the state’s economy. New Jersey has been ignoring the treasured assets that make it a desirable place to live and do business and give it a competitive edge over other states: location in the middle of the world’s largest market, a highly-educated workforce, two top research universities, great residential communities with excellent public schools and vibrant commercial centers, convenient public transit and a thriving, growing community of immigrants from around the world.

The governor chose to tell stories about New Jersey in a national forum that do not stand up. This may benefit his political future, but it certainly does not benefit the people of New Jersey.

Gordon MacInnes is president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that conducts research on public policy issues.